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Medical Homes in Massachusetts
This page is designed to keep you informed about events and activities happening in Massachusetts that will help improve access to medical homes for children with special health care needs (CSHCN).

Click on a topic below to learn more about what's going on in Massachusetts

»Medical Home Initiatives »Resources
»Related Grant Initiatives »Educational Initiatives
»Partners in the State »Screening Initiatives

For individuals that attended the Medical Home Training Program at Boston Shriners Burns Hospital, we hope that you will use the information here to help put into practice what you learned, as well as encourage you to participate in other activities around the state.

Medical Home Initiatives
This section provides information on state medical home initiatives/programs. States that are a part of the mentorship network will have a "Promise to the State" which outlines how they will achieve ensuring that all children have a medical home by 2010. This is based on the Healthy People 2010 goals which is a 10 year action plan to achieve and measure success for all CSHCN.

Massachusetts Medical Home Contact:

Name: Connie Carroll, Director of Care Coordination and Medical Home Initiatives
Contact: Email: connie.carroll@state.ma.us   
State Team Roster

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been awarded an MCHB State Implementation Grant for Integrated Community Systems of Services for CSHCN - Abstract
Contact Person: Nicole Roos, MBA. nicole.roos@state.ma.us
Goals and Objectives:
Goal 1: Build system capacity for family-professional partnerships statewide
Goal 2: Enhance medical provider capacity for providing medical homes for CYSHCN
Goal 3: Assure children receive early and continuous screening and referral to appropriate services
Goal 4: Build system capacity for ensuring YSHCN receive services necessary to make successful transitions to adult life
Goal 5: Strengthen collaboration of youth, families, providers, and state agencies in enhancing systems of care for CYSHCN
Goals 6: Enhance advocacy skills of youth and families

Massachusetts Statewide Medical Home Implementation Plan - Promise to the State
The MA Medical Home Initiatives Steering Committee (comprised of families, MCAAP, Consortium for CSHCN, Title V/DPH, AAP CATCH, and the MA Chapter of Family Physicians) have written a plan outlining specific goals for the state to achieve a system of care in which all CSHCN have access to a medical home by 2010.

MCHB Medical Home Grant "The Massachusetts Medical Home Project": Abstract"
A medical home development project funded by the MCHB which partners care coordinators from the Dept of Public Health with primary care pediatricians in the community.

Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Grant 2002-2007

The Worcester Medical Home Initiative
Purpose:
The goal of the project is to improve health outcomes by creating medical homes for children with special health care needs attending the 2 pediatric and 1 family practice office sites. We will use evaluation tools to measure the organization and delivery of primary care services in supporting chronic condition management, care coordination, community outreach, data management, and quality improvement. Simultaneously, families will participate in an evaluation to measure emotional, physical, social, health, and developmental progress as well as consumer satisfaction. For more information on this project click here.

Advocating Success For Kids (ASK)
Children's Hospital, Boston, MA

Children's academic success during preschool and primary grades may be compromised by developmental concerns caused or exacerbated by psychosocial stressors such as substandard housing, complex family situations, substance use, and domestic violence. In partnership with the Boston Public Schools and 6 community-based urban primary care sites, the Advocating Success for Kids (ASK) program will provide diagnostic consultations and follow-up visits for children presenting with behavioral, developmental, or learning difficulties that impair their ability to learn effectively in their classrooms. A multidisciplinary ASK team, consisting of a psychologist, educator, developmental pediatrician, and case manager, will meet with families at their community health center and provide case coordination-linking families with indicated educational, medical, and psychosocial support services.

Goals of the ASK program are to work with families, primary care providers, and the local school system to: improve school readiness and performance of children ages 3 to 9 years; and improve the emotional well-being of children served through the ASK program.

For more information on the Healthy Tomorrows Grant Program click here.
For more information on any of these HTPCP projects, please e-mail your name, address, telephone, and fax numbers with your specific request to healthyt@aap.org..

Medical Home Materials

  • Medical Home Brochure for Families: Brochure
    A NEW WAY…A BETTER WAY. THE MEDICAL HOME PARTNERSHIP: Building a Home Base for Your Child with Special Health Care Needs
  • Medical Home Brochure for Providers: Brochure
    SMALL STEPS…BIG DIFFERENCES. THE MEDICAL HOME PARTNERSHIP: Practical Tips for Physicians Caring for Children with Special Health Care Needs
  • Care Coordination Program for CSHCN: A Resource for Parents and Providers Brochure
  • Programa de Coordinación de servicios para niños con necidades especiales médicas: Un recurso para padres y proveedores Brochure

Related Grant Initiatives
This section provides information on current state grants that are working on medical home initiatives. This includes the grant abstract as well as key contacts for the grant.

Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Grants
Family Advocates of Central Massachusetts
Providing a Medical Home for children of low-income families includes the capacity to address the legal issues that affect the health of children and families. Family Advocates of Central Massachusetts will incorporate attorneys from LACCM as full members of the multidisciplinary teams caring for children from low-income families in four practices located in Worcester, Webster, Milford and Fitchburg Massachusetts. The attorneys will work closely with health care providers to develop a system of care that integrates legal advice and representation as an additional tool to address the social issues within families that adversely affect the health of children. The attorneys will develop screening protocols and staff trainings that fit within the organizational culture of the four medical practices. Each year, they will provide counsel and advice to more than 100 low-income families with children, and will provide full representation to more than 30 low-income families with children, at the four practice sites in Central Massachusetts.

Projects Goals & Objectives: The goals of this project are: 1) To improve housing stability, 2) To improve financial security, 3) To improve dignity and safety, and 4) To improve access to health care.

For more information on the Healthy Tomorrows Grant Program click here.
For more information on any of these HTPCP projects, please e-mail your name, address, telephone, and fax numbers with your specific request to healthyt@aap.org.

Genetics Grant: Abstract
Project period: 3 years from 6/1/2001 to 5/31/2004
The goals of the project are to: 1) Assure access to care coordination and timely referral to services for CSHCN (particularly children identified through newborn hearing screening, newborn metabolic screening, and FIRSTLink electronic screening of birth certificates to identify newborns at risk) and through genetics diagnostic centers; 2) Establish an integrated child health data system across Department of Public Health (DPH) programs with links to the medical homes of CSHCN and with personal access for families served by participant programs; and 3) Increase community and program staff genetics knowledge and capacity, as outlined in the state Genetics Strategic Plan.

Hemophilia Grant: Abstract
Project Period: 1 Year From: 6/01/01 to 5/31/02
The goal of the region I core hemophilia program is to provide culturally sensitive, family centered, comprehensive care services to individuals with hemophilia and other coagulopathies.

Partners in the State
This section provides information on who in the state (individuals and agencies) are working together to create medical homes for children.

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Chapter:www.mcaap.org/

American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Chapter: www.massafp.org/

Title V CSHCN Program - "The Division for Special Health Needs" www.mass.gov/dph/fch/dshn.htm

Title V Block Grant to States
Title V of the Social Security Act is one of the largest Federal block grant programs. It leads the nation in ensuring the health of all mothers, infants, children, adolescents, and children with special health care needs (CSHCN). Title V is administered by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) as part of the Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Title V and Children with Special Health Care Needs
MCHB Objective: Support development and implementation of comprehensive, culturally competent, coordinated systems of care for the estimated 18 million U.S. children who have or are at risk for chronic physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional conditions and who also require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required by children generally.

Early Hearing Detection & Intervention (EHDI) Contact(s):
State EHDI programs promote universal newborn hearing screening, develop effective tracking and follow-up as a part of the public health system, promote appropriate and timely diagnosis of the hearing loss, prompt enrollment in appropriate Early Intervention, link newborns to a medical home and strive to eliminate geographic and financial barriers to service access.

Name: Janet M. Farrell
Contact: Phone: 617-624-5957 | Fax: 617-624-5990
E-mail: janet.farrell@state.ma.us

Early Intervention/Part C Coordinator:
The Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C of IDEA) is a federal grant program that assists states in operating a comprehensive statewide program of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities, ages birth through age 2 years, and their families.

Name: Ron Benham, Part C Coordinator and Director of EI
Contact: Phone: (617) 624-5962 | Fax: (617) 624-5990 | AltPhone1: (617) 624-5070
Email: ron.benham@state.ma.us
Website: www.mass.gov/dph/fch/ei.htm

Section 619/ Preschool Grants Program of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This program provides free appropriate public education (FAPE) for children, ages 3 through 5 years, with disabilities:

Name: Russell Hoyt, 619 Coordinator
Contact:
(781) 338-6360 (Hoyt) | Fax: (781) 338-3370 | Email: rhoyt@doe.mass.edu

Name:
Elisabeth Schaefer, Administrator
Contact: Phone: (781) 338-6357 (Schaefer) | Fax: (781) 338-3380
Email: eschaefer@doe.mass.edu

Website: www.doe.mass.edu/els/

State Interagency Coordinating Council (ICC) Chairs:
The ICC advises appropriate agencies on the unmet needs in early childhood special education and early intervention programs for children with disabilities, assists in the development and implementation of policies that constitute a statewide system, and assists all appropriate agencies in achieving full participation, coordination, and cooperation for implementation of statewide system.

Name: Barbara Prindle Eaton, ICC Chair
Contact: Phone: (508) 775-6240 | Fax: (508) 790-4774 | Email: bpeaton@cccdp.org

Resources/Documents
Practicing Comprehensive Care: A Physician's Operations Manual for Implementing a Medical Home for CSHCN - created by the Pediatric Alliance for Coordinated Care, the manual offers practical advice and suggestions to support the day-to-day operations of pediatric offices to more efficiently and effectively serve children with special health care needs.

Transition Planning for Adolescents with Special Health Care Needs and Disabilities: A Guide for Health Care Providers (2000) - The guide gives information, resources and strategies needed by providers to support adolescents and their families to meet the challenges of transition.

Transition Planning for Adolescents with Special Health Care Needs and Disabilities: Information for Families and Teens (2000) - This booklet has been developed for families to help you prepare with your teen for his/her adulthood.

Partnerships For Quality - Click here for transcripts and resources from this conference held by MA Family Voices that brought together families and health professionals to discuss how to improve care for CSHCN.

State Waiver Information: www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicaidStWaivProgDemoPGI/08_WavMap.asp
Waivers are the result of a process that allows state Medicaid agencies to apply for and receive permission from HCFA to provide services not otherwise covered by Medicaid and/or to do so in ways not described by the Social Security Act. Most Medicaid managed care programs require Waivers. The Waivers, which can differ greatly, are known by their numbers (1115, 1119), or as home-and community-based, or as Katie Beckett Waivers.

Educational Initiatives
This section provides information on training initiatives on the medical home. Some states will discuss their outreach projects in relation to physicians, families, and the community.

The Medical Home Network Project: www.neserve.org/neserve/wwd_med_hm.html
This educational program of New England SERVE brings together primary care providers, parents and community partners to demystify the theory and practice of the Medical Home. Its case-based curriculum offers knowledge, awareness, and strategies for implementing small practice improvements. Sessions include:

  • Introduction to Medical Home, CSHCN, Family Centered Care
  • Community Resources and Care Coordination
  • Medical Home Index and Practice Change

These two-hour sessions carry continuing medical education (CME) approval.This project is ongoing.

Screening Initiatives
This section provides information on surveillance and screening initiatives in the state.

State Newborn Screening & Genetics Programs: genes-r-us.uthscsa.edu/resources.htm

  • State Newborn Screening Program Links
  • State Genetics Program Links
  • Regional Genetics and Newborn Screening Collaborative Links
  • Newborn Screening State Contact Fact Sheet

State Resources on the Internet

Note: The information provided on the state pages was submitted by the state medical home teams.As this is not an exhaustive list, please let us know if you have additions for your state resource page. You can contact us at:
medical home@aap.org.

Last Updated August 15, 2006

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